The Courtroom
|image = |imagewidth = 250px |series = I Love Lucy |network = CBS-TV |season = 2 |number = 7 |overall = 42 |airdate = November 10, 1952 |production = 2x7 / 042 |guests =Moroni Olsen Harry Bartell Robert Williams |imdb = tt0609350 |writer = Bob Carroll, Jr.,Madelyn Davis & Jess Oppenheimer |director = Marc Daniels |previous = "Vacation from Marriage" |next = "Redecorating" }}The Courtroom was the 42nd overall episode of I Love Lucy, which first aired on CBS-TV on November 10, 1952; it was also the 7th episode of Season 2. It was co-written by Bob Carroll, Jr.,Madelyn Davis and Jess Oppenheimer and directed by William Asher. Synopsis The Ricardos buy the Mertzes a new TV set for their wedding anniversary. When Ricky tries hooking it up, the picture tube explodes! In retaliation, Fred marches up to the Ricardo apartment and kicks in their own picture tube. The whole issue ends up with both couples in court. Plot Lucy and Ethel have entered the home show contest to win five new rooms of furniture. The only problem is that they refuse to leave the house until the contest is over. If the home show calls and you're not home, you lose; they'll just call the next person on the list. Ricky is frustrated when Lucy won't even leave the house to go see a Rogers and Hammerstein show he managed to get tickets for. So, Ricky hatches up a plan with Fred. He tells Fred to make a prank call to Lucy, telling her that it's the home show and she's won the furniture. Then, she'll leave the house again. When the phone rings, Ethel originally thinks it's her phone, but the wires were tangled up. It's really Lucy's phone ringing. She's so excited about her new furniture that she kicks her coffee table, making the leg fall off. She tells Ethel that she wants to sell all of her old funiture as fast as she can, so she calls Dan Jenkins, the secondhand man. She only gets $75 for what Dan Jenkins considers junk, and Lucy uses that money to buy wallpaper for the bedroom. When Ricky returns home, he is horrified to hear that Lucy sold the furniture. He ends up being able to catch Dan Jenkins leaving, and he buys back their old furniture for an astronomical price, explaining to Lucy that the home show didn't actually call. Lucy then shows Ricky the badly wallpapered bedroom. The misaligned striped paper make Ricky dizzy. Fred comes in to see what's going on, and Ricky tells him that the joke's over. Lucy already knows that it was Fred prank calling as the home show. Fred said that he had come to see Ricky to say that he couldn't get up the courage to make the prank call. So, the home show really DID call Lucy, and she gets brand-new furniture for free! Did You Know? Trivia *This is the first of many episodes where Lucy gets new furniture. The plot came from the fact that pregnant Lucy was sick and tired of the way the set looked, and she wanted to freshen it up. It also was a way for CBS and Phillip Morris to ensure that Lucy and Ricky weren't sleeping in a single bed in episodes close to the beginning of the pregnancy storyline. *Starting with this episode, Irma Kusely takes over for Bert French as Lucy's hairdresser during the duration of the episodes Lucy filmed while pregnant. Kusely would continue doing Lucy's hair for her later sitcoms, such as The Lucy Show''and ''Here's Lucy. *We find out that Lucy's phone is on a party line. *Lucy's dressed in loose-fitting clothes throughout the episode, as a way to hide her pregnancy. The dress she wears in the first scene is very billowy, and the overalls were very baggy. *Lucy uses her $75 for her old furniture to buy striped wallpaper for the bedroom. *Every time a tenant moves out, Fred swipes the extension cord. This is how Ethel was able to carry her phone all over the building. *Fred orders a double chocolate malted at the drugstore to build up courage to make the prank call.﻿ Script excerpt from "The Courtroom" ;Quotes ---- *'Fred:' Well, let's face it- we're in for another session with the Sob-sey twins. *'Ethel:' If you think this is bad, I have to go down and look at our apartment. *'Fred:' Never mind, never mind. It all stays as is. *'Ethel:' But our furniture looks crummy! *'Fred:' It lookcs crummy becaues it IS crummy! *'Ricky:' Do you know how many people put their names down on a thin' like that? *'Lucy:' Yes, I do. *'Ricky:' Do you know that your chances are one in a million? *'Lucy:' A lot you know! We each made out 100 cards. Our chances are one in 10,000. *'Ricky:' (about making the prank call) Well, Fred, I'd be glad to do it. I'd love to do it, but Lucy would recognize my accent in a minute. *'Fred:' You're gonna use an accent? *'Lucy:' (in Brooklyn accent) Oops! There goes my doorbell. I'll have to call you back! *'Dan Jenkins:' Well, I shouldn't go this high, but I took an immediate liking to you. So, I'll give you $100. *'Lucy:' $100?! Well, you'd better look again, Mr. Jenkins. *'Dan Jenkins:' Alright, I'll make it $90. *'Dan Jenkins:' I realize how much these valuable antiques mean to you, madame. ﻿﻿---- Cast (in Credits Order) Main Cast *Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo *Desi Arnaz as Ricky Ricardo *Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz *William Frawley as Fred Mertz Guest Stars/Recurring Cast *Moroni Olsen as Judge *Harry Bartell as Process Server *Robert Williams as Bailiff More external links * Category:Season 2 Episodes Category:Episodes